The Right Idea

Lenovo is a brand we don’t usually associate with the term gaming, at least not locally. But the Chinese company has made decent gaming laptops before, such as the Ideapad Y50. From the same series of laptops is the brand new Lenovo Ideapad Y700, a refresh of the Ideapad Y50 to cater to gamers who are looking for the latest in midrange gaming notebooks.

Compared to many gaming notebooks, the Ideapad Y700’s top doesn’t feature some fancy logo. It’s a plain black brushed aluminium lid with the Lenovo brand logo. The build is solid and there’s a noticeable heft to it, since it weighs about 2.6kg. Opening the lid, we find that the machine is angular in certain areas, especially near the speakers and the front. This design is definitely one that would appeal to gamers.

The Y700 doesn’t really have a lot of ports on it, nor one of the (more or less) obsolete optical drives, but it has the essentials. On the right side, you’ll find two USB 3.0 ports, one HDMI port, an Ethernet port, and a Kensington lock. The other side houses Lenovo’s proprietary AC input, a USB 2.0 port, an SD card reader, 2-in-1 audio jack, and finally a microphone port in case you don’t like using headsets.

As seemingly popular these days, Lenovo gives customers the option of picking either a 1080p or 4K IPS display here. Watching YouTube and even gaming on the Y700 is a visual pleasure, with contrast and colour being excellent. Its brightness level is about average, however, as it isn’t significantly bright even at 100% brightness.

Powering the Ideapad Y700 is the now commonly used Intel Core i7-6700HQ CPU, 4GB of DDR4 RAM, an Nvidia GTX960M GPU with 2GB VRAM, and a HDD with 1TB of storage to install all your games. Admittedly, the 4GB of RAM is less than adequate for a gaming machine, though Lenovo does give you the option to choose the specs for the Y700 before purchase so you can opt for 16GB of RAM.

Besides gaming, this laptop is also great for entertainment, all thanks to its 2.1-channel JBL speakers. That’s right folks, the Y700 has a small bottom-facing subwoofer for bass. It might not have as much bass as some would like, but it delivers enough punch for games, movies and music.

It should be noted that upon purchase of a unit of the Y700, you’ll also get a simple gaming mouse pad and a precision mouse, so that’s extra value there.

CHIP CONCLUDE: The Y700 ticks all the right boxes for a good midrange gaming PC. Being priced so competitively just makes it even better.